On June 1st I reached out to Premier Ford and asked him if we can discuss local health care concerns with offload delays resulting in Code Red and Code Black with our EMS. He was very accommodating and his staff quickly worked to organize a meeting. In attendance were the Premier, the Deputy Premier Silva Jones who is also the Minister of Health, Warden Hilda MacDonald, Deputy Warden Joe Bachetti, Essex Deputy Mayor Robbie Shepley, David Musyj, Bruce Krauter, Kristin Kennedy, Andrew Dowie, Anthony Leardi along with myself.
Our Concerns Brought Forward:
I raised the concern of hospital offloading & wait times impacting ambulance times causing code reds & code blacks, no decline. Premier Ford asked if we were taking advantage of the 50% cost sharing program with EMS. Chief Krauter explained we were taking advantage of the funding and that we got an increase in offload nurse funding, treat and release, treat and refer. Our Minister of Health said things are going well with the offload nurse program for hospitals and paramedics. She spoke of the increase to number of beds/capacity and as we expand ambulance capacity we will cover 50% of the costs and the learn and stay program we are currently doing in the north may be available in other areas in the future. Currently St. Clair College learn and stay is only for nurses only but this is not a closed door they will monitor need.
David Musyj, coming out of the pandemic everyone is facing similar issues and now we have 57 more critical care and mental health saw an increase in beds by 10-15 %. Planning for the new hospital will take into account population increases. The County needs to continue to support and push for the new hospital. The new hospital will have 100% private rooms which will help with delays as staff will not have to match patients by gender or infection. We are currently experiencing the lowest RN vacancy rate ever due to hiring of students from University with a signing bonus. Mayors and Warden are invited for a tour. There is no play book here, everyone is working to resolve the issues.
Kristen Kennedy from Erie Shores said their hospital has 14 new funded beds and a great partnership with EMS. They have started a mobile medical unit through Erie Shores with EMS and the support has been precedent setting. Silva Jones congratulated Erie Shores with an offload time of 16 minutes.
I asked why other municipalities have lower levels of Code Reds and Code Blacks such as Chatham Kent? Why is there a difference and why is the data trending up? David Musyj explained that Windsor is a trauma center and CK does not have a trauma center so all there trauma cases get sent here. Chief Krauter said he took a deeper dive into the date on Code Reds and Code Blacks and the data is showing that the majority happen between 3pm and 10pm when primary and urgent care centers are closed. We locally have the lowest offload time when we compare to Kitchener, Guelph and Hamilton.
Minister of Health also added that offload delays are not always hospital driven. Call volume puts pressure on EMS at the same time and it can be no one’s fault. Public awareness campaigns are important on when EMS should be used. Chief Krauter added that we implemented make the right call 3 years ago and the implementation of the new dispatch program will be a game changer. David Musyj added that non-acute coming by ambulances have to be prioritized and that education with the community to not rely on EMS is our obligation.
Deputy Mayor Shepley asked what system is in place for residents who do not quality for an ambulance? The Minister of Health explained that the 911 model of care allows paramedics to refer to other locations than the Emergency Department with patient consent, expanded program to include nursing homes and mental health facilities. The Deputy Warden inquired about the application status for the safe injection site funding. The Minister of Health said the approval process for funding a a big process and they have set aside significant money for new sites. Warden MacDonald said the early stages of the safe injection site is working for people with mental health and addictions, it is very promising showing good numbers.
David Musyj has been working with Ontario Health for a new model for mental health, addictions by working with Windsor Police and a nurse seeing 60-70 patients on a weekend. MPP Andrew Dowie thanked the group for keeping us up to date and said he can be called anytime. MPP Anthony Leardi thanked our health care providers.
Doug Ford thanked the Windsor-Essex team and said he supports health care in Windsor Essex very much and we can call him anytime and he will continue to work with representatives.
I thanked everyone for joining and said she will gladly accept the offer for the hospital tours and EMS ride along. We are working now on scheduling those tours.
